Glycosylated YghJ polypeptides from enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC)

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to glycosylated YghJ polypeptides from or derived from enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) that are immunogenic. In particular, the present invention relates to compositions or vaccines comprising the polypeptides and their application in immunization, vaccination, treatment and diagnosis of ETEC.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation of and claims the benefit and priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/766,209, filed on Apr. 5, 2018, which is a U.S. National Phase Application of PCT International Application Number PCT/DK2016/050321, filed on Oct. 6, 2016, designating the United States of America and published in the English language, which is an International Application of and claims the benefit of priority to European Patent Application No. 15188608.2, filed on Oct. 6, 2015. The disclosures of the above-referenced applications are hereby expressly incorporated by reference in their entireties.

REFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING

A Sequence Listing submitted as an ASCII text file via EFS-Web is hereby incorporated by reference in accordance with 35 U.S.C. § 1.52(e). The name of the ASCII text file for the Sequence Listing is SeqList-PLOUG237-001C1.txt, the date of creation of the ASCII text file is Jun. 12, 2020, and the size of the ASCII text file is 24 KB.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to glycosylated YghJ polypeptides from or derived from enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) that are immunogenic. In particular, the present invention relates to compositions or vaccines comprising the polypeptides and their application in immunization, vaccination, treatment and diagnosis of ETEC.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) is the major source of E. coli mediated diarrhoea in humans and livestock. ETEC infections cause more than 280 million annual episodes of diarrhoea resulting in mortality numbers exceeding 300,000 deaths of children under the age of five years.

The significant negative health- and socio-economic impact of ETEC infection manifests itself mainly in the third world nations with poor sanitation and inadequate supplies of clean water. ETEC is a diverse group of pathogens defined by their ability to colonize the small intestine and secrete heat-labile and/or heat stable enterotoxins. The complex pathogenicity is further attributed to the presence of additional bacterial virulence genes on mobile genetic elements such as plasmids and chromosomal pathogenicity islands.

Much attention has been devoted to the understanding of how ETEC and other mucosa-associated pathogens interact with host tissue during infection. Recent work has revealed that bacterial protein glycosylation plays an important role in mediating adhesion, colonization and invasion of host tissue.

Up until now, the known protein glycosylation repertoire of E. coli was limited to just four proteins, all of which are surface-exposed adhesins with functions in bacterial pathogenesis. The prototypical ETEC strain H10407 encodes two known glycoproteins, TibA and EtpA.

While the intimate coupling between protein glycosylation and bacterial pathophysiology has become apparent, the discovery of novel glycoproteins implicated in virulence is only advancing slowly. This gap of knowledge is linked to the inherent challenges associated with glycoproteomics. The analytical tools developed for enrichment of eukaryotic O- and N-linked glycopeptides rely on a limited set of defined physiochemical properties, e.g. glycan hydrophilicity or specific lectin recognition, which are relatively rare in bacteria.

Discovery and characterization of glycoproteins is further complicated by heterogeneous glycosylation, low abundance and poor ionization of peptides modified with carbohydrates compared to the non-modified counterpart.

Mapping of O-linked glycan moieties has proven to be a particularly challenging task owing to the diverse nature of carbohydrate structures available for protein modification in bacteria. Although methods such as periodic acid/hydrazide glycan labelling and metabolic oligosaccharide engineering (MOE) have identified glycoproteins in a range of bacteria, these techniques present limitations in the form of low specificity for glycosylated proteins and dependence on sugar uptake and integration into bacterial glycoproteins, respectively.

Although they are poorly understood, bacterial glycoproteins potentially constitute an important reservoir of novel therapeutic targets, which could be used against bacterial pathogens.

Thus, there is a great need for understanding the glycosylation patterns of proteins originating from bacteria such as ETEC, and revealing the effect of the glycosylations on for example immunogenicity.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide glycosylated YghJ polypeptides that are immunogenic.

In one aspect of the present invention, the polypeptide is YghJ (also known as ETEC_3241 or CBJ02741, SEQ ID NO: 1).

Another aspect of the present invention relates to the full length sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, a polypeptide or polypeptide fragment of SEQ ID NO: 1 having at least 75% sequence identity to the full length sequence, or a B- or T-cell epitope of the full length sequence, wherein the polypeptide is glycosylated at least in one position.

Still another aspect of the present invention relates to a polypeptide comprising:

-   -   a) SEQ ID NO: 1,     -   b) a polypeptide or polypeptide fragment of SEQ ID NO: 1 having         at least 75% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 1, or     -   c) a B- or T-cell epitope of SEQ ID NO: 1,

wherein the polypeptide is glycosylated in at least one position.

Yet another aspect of the present invention relates to a polypeptide comprising:

-   -   a) SEQ ID NO: 1,     -   b) a polypeptide having at least 75% sequence identity to the         full length sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, or     -   c) a polypeptide fragment of SEQ ID NO: 1 comprising at least 5         amino acids and having at least 75% sequence identity to a         segment of SEQ ID NO: 1, said segment of SEQ ID NO:1 having the         same number of amino acids as said polypeptide fragment,

wherein the polypeptide is glycosylated in at least one position.

A further aspect of the present invention relates to an immunogenic composition comprising the polypeptide as described herein.

Yet another aspect of the present invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition comprising the polypeptide as described herein and at least one pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, excipient or diluent.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to the immunogenic composition or the pharmaceutical composition as described herein, which is a vaccine against ETEC.

A further aspect of the present invention relates to a nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide as described herein.

In a further aspect of the present invention, the polypeptide, immunogenic composition, pharmaceutical composition or vaccine as described herein is for use in preventing or treating infection caused by ETEC.

In another aspect of the present invention, the polypeptide, immunogenic composition, pharmaceutical composition or vaccine as described herein is for use in the preparation of a medicament for treating infection caused by ETEC.

Yet another aspect of the present invention relates to the polypeptide, immunogenic composition, pharmaceutical composition or vaccine as described herein for use in the diagnosis of an infection caused by ETEC.

A further aspect of the present invention relates to a method for immunizing a mammal, the method comprising administering to the mammal the immunogenic composition, pharmaceutical composition or vaccine as described herein.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to a method for treating a mammal, which is infected with ETEC comprising administering to the mammal the immunogenic composition, pharmaceutical composition or vaccine as described herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows β-Elimination of glycan moiety and replacement with 2-AEP through Michael addition chemistry. (1A) MALDI MS spectrum of TTVTSGGLQR (SEQ ID NO:51) (m/z=1181.59 Da) synthetic O-linked glycopeptide. (1B) The BEMAP reaction efficiently replaces the carbohydrate moiety with the 2-AEP molecule and produces a phosphopeptide with the mass of 1126.64 Da. Minor traces of beta-eliminated as well as intact peptide can be observed (m/z=1001.62 Da and 1181.59, respectively). (1C) The AEP modified peptide is selectively enriched with TiO₂ as both the glycopeptide and the beta-eliminated peptide is absent in the MALDI MS spectrum. (1D) MALDI MS peptide mass fingerprint of Tryptic digest of heptosylated protein Ag43. Ag43 can be digested into a mixture of heptosylated as well as unmodified peptides. Peptides marked with an asterisk indicate heptosylation. (1E) BEMAP converts heptosylated peptides into phosphopeptides; modified peptides are indicated. (1F) Specific TiO₂ enrichment of phosphopeptides.

FIG. 2A shows gas-phase fragmentation properties of 2-AEP tagged peptide TTVTSGGLQR (SEQ ID NO:51) with either collision-induced dissociation (CID) or the CID variant, higher-energy collisional dissociation (HCD, FIG. 2B). HCD yields a more nuanced result than CID. The AEP addition substitutes a labile glycoside bond with a stronger covalent C-N bond, which greatly improves mapping of glycosylated residues by HCD fragmentation. Moreover, HCD fragmentation yields two characteristic ions (m/z=126.03 Da and m/z=138.03 Da), useful for the identification of formerly glycosylated peptides in complex MS/MS spectra.

The present invention will now be described in more detail in the following.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present inventors have developed a novel mass spectrometry-based technique, termed BEMAP, which can be employed to map O-linked glycoproteins from theoretically any organism.

BEMAP combines a simple reaction scheme with a highly selective enrichment protocol to circumvent the challenges previously associated with bacterial glycoproteomics. The BEMAP reaction efficiently substitutes O-linked carbohydrate moieties with a 2-Aminoethyl phosphonic acid (AEP) group, which can be selectively isolated based on its affinity for titanium dioxide.

BEMAP has been employed to map novel protein glycosylation sites in ETEC strain H10407 and the non-pathogenic E. coli K-12 MG1655. Functional characterization of an H10407Δh/dE knockout strain revealed the importance of protein glycosylation for ETEC adhesion to human intestinal cells.

These results, together with other recent studies of bacterial glycoproteomes, highlight protein glycosylation in bacteria as an abundant, yet largely unexplored, posttranslational protein modification, which is central to bacterial physiology and pathophysiology.

The ETEC glycosylated proteins (polypeptides) are important in understanding the immunogenicity of ETEC. The glycosylated polypeptides disclosed herein leads to an enhanced immunogenicity compared to the same polypeptides that are not glycosylated.

The present inventors have therefore surprisingly found that certain proteins from ETEC causes an enhanced immunogenic response due to specific glycosylation of the YghJ proteins or fragments thereof.

Thus, an object of the present invention is to provide glycosylated YghJ polypeptides that are immunogenic.

Glycosylated Polypeptides

The term glycosylation refers to O-linked glycosylation. This is the attachment of a sugar molecule to a hydroxyl oxygen of either a Serine or Threonine side chain in a protein.

One such glycosylated polypeptide is YghJ (also known as ETEC_3241 or CBJ02741, SEQ ID NO: 1).

Therefore, one aspect of the present invention relates to the full length sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, a polypeptide or polypeptide fragment of SEQ ID NO: 1 having at least 75% sequence identity to the full length sequence, or a B- or T-cell epitope of the full length sequence, wherein the polypeptide is glycosylated at least in one position. The polypeptides of the present invention may be synthetic or recombinant.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to a polypeptide comprising:

-   -   a) SEQ ID NO: 1,     -   b) a polypeptide or polypeptide fragment of SEQ ID NO: 1 having         at least 75% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 1, or     -   c) a B- or T-cell epitope of SEQ ID NO: 1,

wherein the polypeptide is glycosylated in at least one position.

Still another aspect of the present invention relates to a polypeptide comprising:

-   -   a) SEQ ID NO: 1,     -   b) a polypeptide having at least 75% sequence identity to the         full length sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, or     -   c) a polypeptide fragment of SEQ ID NO: 1 comprising at least 5         amino acids and having at least 75% sequence identity to a         segment of SEQ ID NO: 1, said segment of SEQ ID NO:1 having the         same number of amino acids as said polypeptide fragment,

wherein the polypeptide is glycosylated in at least one position.

The polypeptide fragments of the present invention may comprise at least 5 amino acids, such as at least 7 amino acids, at least 8 amino acids, at least 9 amino acids, at least 10 amino acids, at least 12 amino acids, at least 15 amino acids, at least 20 amino acids, at least 25 amino acids, at least 30 amino acids, at least 35 amino acids, at least 40 amino acids, at least 45 amino acids, or at least 50 amino acids.

Thus, one embodiment of the present invention relates to polypeptides as described herein, wherein the polypeptide fragment comprises at least 7 amino acids, such as at least 8 amino acids, at least 9 amino acids, at least 10 amino acids, at least 12 amino acids, at least 15 amino acids, at least 20 amino acids, at least 25 amino acids, at least 30 amino acids, at least 35 amino acids, at least 40 amino acids, at least 45 amino acids, or at least 50 amino acids.

Another embodiment of the present invention relates to polypeptides as described herein, wherein the polypeptide fragment comprises at least 9 amino acids.

Still another embodiment of the present invention relates to polypeptides as described herein, wherein the polypeptide fragment comprises at least 10 amino acids.

A further embodiment of the present invention relates to polypeptides as described herein, wherein the polypeptide fragment comprises at least 20 amino acids.

The polypeptides of the present invention may be glycosylated at least in two positions, such as at least in three positions, at least four positions, at least five positions, at least six positions, seven, eight or at least nine positions.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the polypeptide is glycosylated in at least two positions.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the polypeptide is glycosylated in at least three positions.

The polypeptides can also be glycosylated in exactly one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight or nine positions.

Numerous examples are known in which proteins can be extensively glycosylated. Glycosylated proteins can exhibit completely different biological functions than their non-glycosylated counterparts. In the present context, a hyperglycosylated protein (or polypeptide) is defined as an amino acid sequence being glycosylated in at least ten positions.

Thus, yet another embodiment of the present invention relates to the situation, wherein the polypeptide as described herein is hyperglycosylated.

The polypeptides of the present invention may also be characterized by certain amino acid motifs. Such motifs can be identified experimentally, by for instance BEMAP as described herein or computationally by software tools such as Motif-X, which recognizes overrepresented patterns from a sequence data set (M. F. Chou and D. Schwartz (2011).

An embodiment of the present invention consequently relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the glycosylated polypeptide comprises at least one asparagine within seven amino acids from each glycosylated amino acid.

Therefore, embodiments of the present invention also encompasses glycosylated polypeptide comprising at least one asparagine within seven amino acids from each glycosylated amino acid, such as within seven, six, five, four, three, two or one amino acid from each glycosylated amino acid.

The polypeptides may also be defined by more specific amino acid motifs. A bioinformatics motif analysis of the YghJ sequence revealed several frequently occurring amino acid motifs, below presented by the specific amino acids as well as by X, which signifies an arbitrarily chosen amino acid.

Motif 1: XTXNX

Motif 2: XTXXXNX

Motif 3: XTXXXXXXNX

Motif 4: XTTX

Motif 5: XSNX

Motif 6: XSXNX

Motif 7: XSTX

Motif 8: XNXXXXXXSX

Motif 9: XSXXTX

Motif 10: XSXXNX

Motif 11: XNSX

Motif 12: XXXXXXXXCSXXXXXXXXX

Motif 13: XXXXXXXXXSCXXXXXXXX

Motif 14: XXXXXXXCXSXXXXXXXXX

Motif 15: XXXXXXXXXSXCXXXXXXX

Motif 16: XXXXXXCXXSXXXXXXXXX

Motif 17: XXXXXXXXXSXXXCXXXXX

Motif 18: XXXXXCXXXSXXXXXXXXX

Motif 19: XXXXXXXXXSXXCXXXXXX

Motif 20: XXXXXXXXXSXXXXCXXXX

Motif 21: XXXXXXXXXSXXXXXCXXX

Motif 22: XXXXXXXXXTCXXXXXXXX

Motif 23: XXXXXXXXCTXXXXXXXXX

Motif 24: XXXXXXXXXTXCXXXXXXX

Motif 25: XXXXXXXCXTXXXXXXXXX

Motif 26: XXXXXXCXXTXXXXXXXXX

Motif 27: XXXXXXXXXTXXCXXXXXX

Motif 28: XXXXXXXXXTXXXCXXXXX

Motif 29: XXXXXCXXXTXXXXXXXXX

Motif 30: XXXXXXXXXTXXXXCXXXX

Motif 31: XXXXXXXXNTXXXXXXXXX

Motif 32: XXXXXXXNXTXXXXXXXXX

Thus, another embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the glycosylated polypeptide comprises an amino acid motif selected from the group consisting of XTXNX, XTXXXNX, XTXXXXXXNX, XTTX, XSNX, XSXNX, XSTX, XNXXXXXXSX, XSXXTX, XSXXNX, and XNSX.

In another embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the glycosylated polypeptide comprises an amino acid motif selected from the group consisting of XXXXXXXXCSXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXSCXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXCXSXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXSXCXXXXXXX, XXXXXXCXXSXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXSXXXCXXXXX, XXXXXCXXXSXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXSXXCXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXSXXXXCXXXX, XXXXXXXXXSXXXXXCXXX, XXXXXXXXXTCXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXCTXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXTXCXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXCXTXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXCXXTXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXTXXCXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXTXXXCXXXXX, XXXXXCXXXTXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXTXXXXCXXXX, XXXXXXXXNTXXXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXNXTXXXXXXXXX.

In a further embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the glycosylated polypeptide comprises an amino acid motif selected from the group consisting of XTXNX, XTXXXNX, XTXXXXXXNX, XTTX, XSNX, XSXNX, XSTX, XNXXXXXXSX, XSXXTX, XSXXNX, XNSX, XXXXXXXXCSXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXSCXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXCXSXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXSXCXXXXXXX, XXXXXXCXXSXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXSXXXCXXXXX, XXXXXCXXXSXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXSXXCXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXSXXXXCXXXX, XXXXXXXXXSXXXXXCXXX, XXXXXXXXXTCXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXCTXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXTXCXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXCXTXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXCXXTXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXTXXCXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXTXXXCXXXXX, XXXXXCXXXTXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXXXXXTXXXXCXXXX, XXXXXXXXNTXXXXXXXXX and XXXXXXXNXTXXXXXXXXX.

Sequence Identity

Glycosylated polypeptides may be obtained directly from a bacterial culture by purification or they can be chemically synthesized.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the polypeptide originates from Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC). Examples of such polypeptides are given in the present disclosure.

The polypeptides can also be functional variants of the polypeptides disclosed herein. Such variance can be determined by sequence identity.

The term “sequence identity” indicates a quantitative measure of the degree of homology between two amino acid sequences of substantially equal length or between two nucleic acid sequences of substantially equal length. The two sequences to be compared must be aligned to best possible fit with the insertion of gaps or alternatively, truncation at the ends of the protein sequences. The sequence identity can be calculated as

$\frac{\left( {N_{ref} - N_{dif}} \right)100}{N_{ref}},$ wherein N_(dif) is the total number of non-identical residues in the two sequences when aligned and wherein N_(ref) is the number of residues in one of the sequences. Hence, the DNA sequence AGTCAGTC will have a sequence identity of 75% with the sequence AATCAATC (N_(dif)=2 and N_(ref)=8). A gap is counted as non-identity of the specific residue(s), i.e. the DNA sequence AGTGTC will have a sequence identity of 75% with the DNA sequence AGTCAGTC (N_(dif)=2 and N_(ref)=8). Sequence identity can alternatively be calculated by the BLAST program e.g. the BLASTP program (W. R Pearson and D. J. Lipman (1988)). In one embodiment of the invention, alignment is performed with the sequence alignment method ClustalW with default parameters as described by J. D. Thompson et al (1994).

For calculations of sequence identity when comparing polypeptide fragments with longer amino acid sequences, the polypeptide fragment is aligned with a segment of the longer amino acid sequence. The polypeptide fragment and the segment of the longer amino acid sequence may be of substantially equal length. Thus, the polypeptide fragment and the segment of the longer amino acid sequence may be of equal length. After alignment of the polypeptide fragment with the segment of the longer amino acid sequence, the sequence identity is computed as described above.

A preferred minimum percentage of sequence identity is at least 75%, such as at least 80%, such as at least 85%, at least 90%, at least 91%, at least 92%, at least 93%, at least 94%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, at least 99%, and at least 99.5%.

Thus, one embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the polypeptide or polypeptide fragment has at least 80% sequence identity to the full-length sequence of SEQ ID No: 1, such as at least 80%, such as at least 85%, at least 90%, at least 91%, at least 92%, at least 93%, at least 94%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, at least 99%, or at least 99.5%.

An embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the polypeptide or polypeptide fragment has at least 90% sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 1.

Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the polypeptide has at least 90% sequence identity to the full length sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1, and the polypeptide fragment has at least 90% sequence identity to a segment of SEQ ID NO: 1, said segment of SEQ ID NO:1 having the same number of amino acids as said polypeptide fragment.

Preferably, the numbers of substitutions, insertions, additions or deletions of one or more amino acid residues in the polypeptide is limited, i.e. no more than 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 substitutions, no more than 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 insertions, no more than 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 additions, and no more than 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 deletions compared to the immunogenic polypeptide units based on polypeptides disclosed herein.

B- or T-Cell Epitopes

Polypeptides such as the ETEC proteins disclosed herein can contain immunogenic parts, such as B- or T-cell epitopes.

The immunogenic part of an immunogenic polypeptide is the part of the polypeptide, which elicits an immune response in an animal or a human being, and/or in a biological sample determined by any of the biological assays known to the skilled person working with immune responses.

The immunogenic part of a polypeptide may be a T-cell epitope or a B-cell epitope and can be related to one or a few relatively small parts of the polypeptide, they can be scattered throughout the polypeptide sequence or be situated in specific parts of the polypeptide.

In order to identify relevant T-cell epitopes which are recognized during an immune response, it is possible to use a “brute force” method: Since T-cell epitopes are linear, deletion mutants of the polypeptide will, if constructed systematically, reveal what regions of the polypeptide are essential in immune recognition, e.g. by subjecting these deletion mutants e.g. to assays known to the skilled person working with immune responses.

Another method utilizes overlapping oligopeptides for the detection of MHC class II epitopes, preferably synthetic, having a length of e.g. 20 amino acid residues derived from the polypeptide. These peptides can be tested in biological assays and some of these will give a positive response (and thereby be immunogenic) as evidence for the presence of a T cell epitope in the peptide.

For the detection of MHC class I epitopes it is possible to predict peptides that will bind and hereafter produce these peptides synthetically and test them in relevant biological assays. The peptides preferably having a length of e.g. 8 to 20 amino acid residues derived from the polypeptide. B-cell epitopes can be determined by analyzing the B-cell recognition to overlapping peptides covering the polypeptide of interest.

B-cell epitopes differ from T-cell epitopes in that they are conformational epitopes that require a three dimensional structure in order to raise an immune response. Without being bound by theory, variants of B-cell epitopes can be identified through key amino acids (for example glycosylated amino acids) and a certain length of the polypeptide while remaining immunogenic.

Thus, an embodiment of the present invention therefore relates to epitopes, such as B- or T-cell epitopes of the polypeptides mentioned herein.

A common feature of the polypeptides of the present invention is their capability to induce an immunological response as illustrated in the examples. It is understood that within the scope of the present invention are variants of the polypeptides of the invention produced by substitution, insertion, addition or deletion while remaining immunogenic.

Examples of such epitopes are listed in the examples of the present disclosure and include SEQ ID NOs: 2-23. Other examples include SEQ ID NOs: 24-50. Also polypeptides with a minimum percentage of sequence identity to any of SEQ ID NOs: 2-50 form part of the invention.

A preferred minimum percentage of sequence identity to any of SEQ ID NOs: 2-50 is at least 75%, such as at least 80%, such as at least 85%, at least 90%, at least 91%, at least 92%, at least 93%, at least 94%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, at least 99%, and at least 99.5%.

Therefore, an embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the polypeptide has at least 75% sequence identity to the full-length sequence of SEQ ID NOs: 2-50, such as at least 80%, such as at least 85%, at least 90%, at least 91%, at least 92%, at least 93%, at least 94%, at least 95%, at least 96%, at least 97%, at least 98%, at least 99%, or at least 99.5%.

Thus, an embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the glycosylated polypeptide is selected from the group of glycosylated polypeptides consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 2-50 and polypeptides having at least 75% sequence identity to the full length sequence of SEQ ID Nos: 2-50.

Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the glycosylated polypeptide is selected from the group of glycosylated polypeptides consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 2-23 and polypeptides having at least 75% sequence identity to the full length sequence of SEQ ID Nos: 2-23.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the glycosylated polypeptide is selected from the group of glycosylated polypeptides consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 24-50 and polypeptides having at least 75% sequence identity to the full length sequence of SEQ ID Nos: 24-50.

A further embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the glycosylated polypeptide has at least 90% sequence identity to the full length sequence of SEQ ID Nos: 2-50.

An even further embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the glycosylated polypeptide has at least 90% sequence identity to the full length sequence of SEQ ID Nos: 2-23.

Still another embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the glycosylated polypeptide has at least 90% sequence identity to the full length sequence of SEQ ID Nos: 24-50.

The polypeptides may also be given by a specific sequence selected from SEQ ID Nos: 2-50.

Therefore, an embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the glycosylated polypeptide is selected from the group of glycosylated polypeptides consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 2-50.

Thus, in one embodiment of the present invention, the glycosylated polypeptide is selected from the group of glycosylated polypeptides consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 2-23.

Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the glycosylated polypeptide is selected from the group of glycosylated polypeptides consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 24-50.

Key features of these epitopes or fragments are that they comprise one or more glycosylations at central positions.

Polypeptide Purity

In the present context the term “substantially pure polypeptide” means a polypeptide preparation which contains at most 5% by weight of other polypeptide material with which it is associated natively or during recombinant or synthetic production (lower percentages of other polypeptide material are preferred, e.g. at most 4%, at most 3%, at most 2%, at most 1%, and at most ½%).

It is preferred that the substantially pure polypeptide is at least 96% pure, i.e. that the polypeptide constitutes at least 96% by weight of total polypeptide material present in the preparation, and higher percentages are preferred, such as at least 97%, at least 98%, at least 99%, at least 99.25%, at least 99.5%, and at least 99.75%. It is especially preferred that the polypeptide is in “essentially pure form”, i.e. that the polypeptide is essentially free of any other antigen with which it is natively associated, i.e. free of any other antigen from bacteria. This can be accomplished by preparing the polypeptide by means of recombinant methods in a host cell, or by synthesizing the polypeptide by the well-known methods of solid or liquid phase peptide synthesis, and by using appropriate purification procedures well known to the person of ordinary skill in the art.

Thus in one embodiment of the present invention are the polypeptides of the present invention substantially pure or in essentially pure form.

Fusion Polypeptides

Two or more of the polypeptides disclosed herein may be fused to form fusion polypeptides.

Therefore, an embodiment of the present invention relates to a situation wherein the polypeptide is a fusion polypeptide.

The polypeptides to which fusion is made may originate from ETEC or alternatively be other polypeptides that are beneficial when an enhanced immune response against ETEC is required.

Thus, another embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the polypeptide is fused to a polypeptide originating from ETEC.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the polypeptide is a fusion polypeptide, said fusion polypeptide comprising one or more glycosylated polypeptide selected from the group of glycosylated polypeptides consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 2-50.

A further embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the polypeptide is a fusion polypeptide, said fusion polypeptide comprising one or more glycosylated polypeptide selected from the group of glycosylated polypeptides consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 2-23.

An even further embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the polypeptide is a fusion polypeptide, said fusion polypeptide comprising one or more glycosylated polypeptide selected from the group of glycosylated polypeptides consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 24-50.

Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the polypeptide is a fusion polypeptide, said fusion polypeptide consisting of two or more glycosylated polypeptides selected from the group of glycosylated polypeptides consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 2-50.

Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the polypeptide is a fusion polypeptide, said fusion polypeptide consisting of two or more glycosylated polypeptides selected from the group of glycosylated polypeptides consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 2-23.

Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein, wherein the polypeptide is a fusion polypeptide, said fusion polypeptide consisting of two or more glycosylated polypeptides selected from the group of glycosylated polypeptides consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 24-50.

Immunogenicity

An immunogenic polypeptide is defined as a polypeptide that induces an immune response. The immune response may be monitored by one of the following methods:

An in vitro cellular response is determined by release of a relevant cytokine such as IFN-γ, from lymphocytes withdrawn from an animal or human currently or previously infected with ETEC, or by detection of proliferation of these T cells. The induction is performed by addition of the polypeptide or the immunogenic part to a suspension comprising from 1×10⁵ cells to 3×10⁵ cells per well. The cells are isolated from either blood, the spleen, the liver or the lung and the addition of the polypeptide or the immunogenic part of the polypeptide result in a concentration of not more than 20 μg per ml suspension and the stimulation is performed from two to five days. For monitoring cell proliferation, the cells are pulsed with radioactive labeled Thymidine and after 16-22 hours of incubation, the proliferation is detected by liquid scintillation counting. A positive response is a response more than background plus two standard deviations. The release of IFN-γ can be determined by the ELISA method, which is well known to a person skilled in the art. A positive response is a response more than background plus two standard deviations. Other cytokines than IFN-γ could be relevant when monitoring an immunological response to the polypeptide, such as IL-12, TNF-α, IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-6, TGF-β.

Another and more sensitive method for determining the presence of a cytokine (e.g. IFN-γ) is the ELISPOT method where the cells isolated from either the blood, the spleen, the liver or the lung are diluted to a concentration of preferable of 1 to 4×10⁶ cells/ml and incubated for 18-22 hrs in the presence of the polypeptide or the immunogenic part of the polypeptide resulting in a concentration of not more than 20 μg per ml. The cell suspensions are hereafter diluted to 1 to 2×10⁶/ml and transferred to Maxisorp plates coated with anti-IFN-γ and incubated for preferably 4 to 16 hours. The IFN-γ producing cells are determined by the use of labelled secondary anti-IFN-antibody and a relevant substrate giving rise to spots, which can be enumerated using a dissection microscope. It is also a possibility to determine the presence of mRNA coding for the relevant cytokine by the use of the PCR technique. Usually one or more cytokines will be measured utilizing for example the PCR, ELISPOT or ELISA. It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that a significant increase or decrease in the amount of any of these cytokines induced by a specific polypeptide can be used in evaluation of the immunological activity of the polypeptide.

An in vitro cellular response may also be determined by the use of T cell lines derived from an immune individual or an ETEC infected person where the T cell lines have been driven with either live ETEC, extracts from the bacterial cell or culture filtrate for 10 to 20 days with the addition of IL-2. The induction is performed by addition of not more than 20 μg polypeptide per ml suspension to the T cell lines containing from 1×10⁵ cells to 3×10⁵ cells per well and incubation is performed from two to six days. The induction of IFN-γ or release of another relevant cytokine is detected by ELISA. The stimulation of T cells can also be monitored by detecting cell proliferation using radioactively labeled Thymidine as described above. For both assays, a positive response is a response more than background plus two standard deviations.

An in vivo cellular response may be determined as a positive DTH response after intradermal injection or local application patch of at most 100 μg of the polypeptide or the immunogenic part to an individual who is clinically or subclinically infected with ETEC, a positive response having a diameter of at least 5 mm 72-96 hours after the injection or application.

An in vitro humoral response is determined by a specific antibody response in an immune or infected individual. The presence of antibodies may be determined by an ELISA technique or a Western blot where the polypeptide or the immunogenic part is absorbed to either a nitrocellulose membrane or a polystyrene surface. The serum is preferably diluted in PBS from 1:10 to 1:100 and added to the absorbed polypeptide and the incubation being performed from 1 to 12 hours. By the use of labeled secondary antibodies the presence of specific antibodies can be determined by measuring the presence or absence of a specific label e.g. by ELISA where a positive response is a response of more than background plus two standard deviations or alternatively a visual response in a Western blot.

Another relevant parameter is measurement of the protection in animal models induced after vaccination with the polypeptide in an adjuvant or after DNA vaccination. Suitable animal models include primates, guinea pigs or mice, which are challenged with an infection of an ETEC. Readout for induced protection could be decrease of the bacterial load in target organs compared to non-vaccinated animals, prolonged survival times compared to non-vaccinated animals and diminished weight loss or pathology compared to non-vaccinated animals.

Thus, the glycosylated polypeptides described herein are immunogenic when one of the above-described tests is positive.

In one aspect of the present invention are the polypeptides described herein immunogenic.

Such an immunogenic polypeptide may be used for immunizing a subject to infectious bacteria. Thus, an embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein for use in immunizing a mammal against ETEC.

Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein for use in immunizing a human against ETEC.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to a composition comprising a polypeptide as described herein. Such composition will constitute an immunogenic composition.

Antibodies

The glycosylated polypeptides disclosed herein can constitute epitopes.

An epitope, also known as antigenic determinant, is the part of an antigen that is recognized by the immune system, specifically by antibodies, B cells, or T cells.

The epitopes of protein antigens are divided into two categories, conformational epitopes and linear epitopes, based on their structure and interaction with the paratope.

A conformational epitope is composed of discontinuous sections of the antigen's amino acid sequence.

These epitopes interact with the paratope based on the 3-D surface features and shape or tertiary structure of the antigen.

By contrast, linear epitopes interact with the paratope based on their primary structure. A linear epitope is formed by a continuous sequence of amino acids from the antigen.

Thus, one aspect of the present invention relates to an antibody that binds to an epitope described herein.

Antibodies raised against the epitope may be either polyclonal or monoclonal.

The antibodies may be suitable to generate chimeric and/or human versions that could be appropriate for human in vivo use.

Thus, the invention is also concerned with the polypeptides as described herein for use in animals to produce antisera for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

Antibodies obtained from animals exposed to the polypeptides as described herein, may be used for the treatment or diagnosis of a bacterial infection, such as an ETEC infection.

The immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) is the large polypeptide subunit of an antibody (immunoglobulin). A typical antibody is composed of two immunoglobulin (Ig) heavy chains and two Ig light chains.

Several different types of heavy chain exist that define the class or isotype of an antibody. These heavy chain types vary between different animals.

The immunoglobulin light chain is the small polypeptide subunit of an antibody (immunoglobulin).

There are two types of light chain in humans (as in other mammals), kappa (κ) chain, encoded by the immunoglobulin kappa locus on chromosome 2 and the lambda (A) chain, encoded by the immunoglobulin lambda locus on chromosome 22.

Antibodies are produced by B lymphocytes, each expressing only one class of light chain.

Once set, light chain class remains fixed for the life of the B lymphocyte.

In a healthy individual, the total kappa to lambda ratio is roughly 2:1 in serum (measuring intact whole antibodies) or 1:1.5 if measuring free light chains, with a highly divergent ratio indicative of neoplasm.

The exact normal ratio of kappa to lambda ranges from 0.26 to 1.65.

Both the kappa and the lambda chains can increase proportionately, maintaining a normal ratio.

Carriers, Excipients and Diluents

Pharmaceutical compositions comprising the polypeptides described herein may be administered in a physiologically acceptable medium (e.g., deionized water, phosphate buffered saline (PBS), saline, aqueous ethanol or other alcohol, plasma, proteinaceous solutions, mannitol, aqueous glucose, vegetable oil, or the like).

Thus, an embodiment of the present invention relates to a composition comprising a polypeptide as described herein that constitutes a pharmaceutical composition.

Buffers may also be included, particularly where the media are generally buffered at a pH in the range of about 5 to 10, where the buffer will generally range in concentration from about 50 to 250 mM salt, where the concentration of salt will generally range from about 5 to 500 mM, physiologically acceptable stabilizers, and the like.

The compounds may be lyophilized for convenient storage and transport.

Thus, in a further embodiment of the present invention the composition comprises one or more excipients, diluents and/or carriers.

Aqueous suspensions may contain the active materials in admixture with excipients suitable for the manufacture of aqueous suspensions.

Such excipients include suspending agents, for example sodium carboxymethylcellulose, methylcellulose, hydropropyl-methylcellulose, sodium alginate, polyvinylpyrrolidone, gum tragacanth and gum acacia; dispersing or wetting agents can be a naturally-occurring phosphatide, for example, lecithin, or condensation products of an alkylene oxide with fatty acids, for example polyoxyethylene stearate, or condensation products of ethylene oxide with long chain aliphatic alcohols, for example heptadecaethyleneoxycetanol, or condensation products of ethylene oxide with partial esters derived from fatty acids and a hexitol such as polyoxyethylene sorbitol monooleate, or condensation products of ethylene oxide with partial esters derived from fatty acids and hexitol anhydrides, for example polyethylene sorbitan monooleate.

Thus, an aspect of the present invention relates to a pharmaceutical composition comprising a polypeptide as described herein and at least one pharmaceutically acceptable carrier, excipient or diluent.

Vaccines, Treatment and Administration

The polypeptides, immunogenic compositions, and pharmaceutical composition may constitute a vaccine against ETEC.

Therefore, an aspect of the present invention relates to an immunogenic composition or a pharmaceutical composition as defined herein, which is a vaccine against ETEC.

An embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein for use in a vaccine against ETEC. Such a vaccine may be for use in a mammal, preferably a human.

Another embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide as described herein for use in the preparation of a vaccine against ETEC. Such a vaccine may be for use in a mammal, preferably a human.

Key features of vaccines is that they are recognized by the recipient's immune response, generate a response, and ultimately decrease the bacterial load of ETEC.

The vaccines are administered in a manner compatible with the dosage formulation, and in such amount as will be prophylactic or therapeutically effective and immunogenic. The quantity to be administered depends on the subject to be treated, including, e.g., the capacity of the individual's immune system to mount an immune response, and the degree of protection desired. Suitable dosage ranges are of the order of several hundred micrograms of the fusion polypeptide of the invention per vaccination with a preferred range from about 0.1 μg to 1000 μg, such as in the range from about 1 μg to 300 μg, and especially in the range from about 10 μg to 100 μg. Suitable regimens for initial administration and booster shots are also variable but are typified by an initial administration followed by subsequent inoculations or other administrations.

The manner of application may be varied widely. Any of the conventional methods for administration of a vaccine are applicable. These include oral, nasal or mucosal application in either a solid form containing the active ingredients (such as a pill, suppository or capsule) or in a physiologically acceptable dispersion, such as a spray, powder or liquid, or parenterally, by injection, for example, subcutaneously, intradermally or intramuscularly or transdermally applied. The dosage of the vaccine will depend on the route of administration and will vary according to the age of the person to be vaccinated and, to a lesser degree, the size of the person to be vaccinated. Currently, most vaccines are administered intramuscularly by needle injection and this is likely to continue as the standard route. However, vaccine formulations that induce mucosal immunity have been developed, typically by oral or nasal delivery. One of the most widely studied delivery systems for induction of mucosal immunity contains cholera toxin (CT) or its B subunit. This protein enhances mucosal immune responses and induces IgA production when administered in vaccine formulations. An advantage is the ease of delivery of oral or nasal vaccines. Modified toxins from other microbial species, which have reduced toxicity but retained immunostimulatory capacity, such as modified heat-labile toxin from Gram-negative bacteria or staphylococcal enterotoxins may also be used to generate a similar effect. These molecules are particularly suited to mucosal administration.

The vaccines are conventionally administered parenterally, by injection, for example, either subcutaneously or intramuscularly. Additional formulations which are suitable for other modes of administration include suppositories and, in some cases, oral formulations. For suppositories, traditional binders and carriers may include, for example, polyalkalene glycols or triglycerides; such suppositories may be formed from mixtures containing the active ingredient in the range of 0.5% to 10%, preferably 1-2%. Oral formulations include such normally employed excipients as, for example, pharmaceutical grades of mannitol, lactose, starch, magnesium stearate, sodium saccharine, cellulose, magnesium carbonate, and the like. These compositions take the form of solutions, suspensions, tablets, pills, capsules, sustained release formulations or powders and advantageously contain 10-95% of active ingredient, preferably 25-70%.

Thus, an aspect of the present invention relates to an immunogenic composition, a pharmaceutical composition, or a vaccine as described herein, which is formulated for intradermal, transdermal, subcutaneous, intramuscular or mucosal application.

The adjuvant is preferably selected from the group consisting of dimethyloctadecylammonium bromide (DDA), dimethyloctadecenylammonium bromide (DODAC), Quil A, poly I:C, aluminium hydroxide, Freund's incomplete adjuvant, IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-12, monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL), Treholose Dimycolate (TDM), Trehalose Dibehenate and muramyl dipeptide (MDP).

The polypeptides may also be used for immunizing a mammal against ETEC or treating the mammal against ETEC.

Therefore, one aspect of the present invention relates to a method for immunizing a mammal, the method comprising administering to the mammal an immunogenic composition, a pharmaceutical composition or a vaccine as described herein.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to a method for treating a mammal, which is infected with ETEC comprising administering to the mammal an immunogenic composition, a pharmaceutical composition or a vaccine as described herein.

An embodiment of the present invention relates to a polypeptide, an immunogenic composition or a pharmaceutical composition for use as described herein or a method as described herein, wherein the mammal is a human.

In another embodiment of the present invention is the mammal an animal selected from the group consisting of a pig, a cow, a sheep, and a horse.

A further aspect of the present invention relates to a polypeptide, an immunogenic composition, a pharmaceutical composition, or a vaccine as described herein for use in preventing or treating infection caused by ETEC.

Yet another aspect of the present invention relates to a polypeptide, an immunogenic composition, a pharmaceutical, or a vaccine as described herein for use in the preparation of a medicament for treating infection caused by ETEC.

Nucleic Acids

By the terms “nucleic acid fragment” and “nucleic acid sequence” are understood any nucleic acid molecule including DNA, RNA, LNA (locked nucleic acids), PNA, RNA, dsRNA and RNA-DNA-hybrids. Also included are nucleic acid molecules comprising non-naturally occurring nucleosides. The term includes nucleic acid molecules of any length e.g. from 10 to 10000 nucleotides, depending on the use. When the nucleic acid molecule is for use as a pharmaceutical, e.g. in DNA therapy, or for use in a method for producing a polypeptide according to the invention, a molecule encoding at least one epitope is preferably used, having a length from about 18 to about 1000 nucleotides, the molecule being optionally inserted into a vector.

When the nucleic acid molecule is used as a probe, as a primer or in antisense therapy, a molecule having a length of 10-100 is preferably used.

According to the invention, other molecule lengths can be used, for instance a molecule having at least 12, 15, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36, 39, 42, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 or 1000 nucleotides (or nucleotide derivatives), or a molecule having at most 10000, 5000, 4000, 3000, 2000, 1000, 700, 500, 400, 300, 200, 100, 50, 40, 30 or 20 nucleotides (or nucleotide derivatives).

Thus, one aspect of the present invention relates to a nucleic acid sequence encoding a polypeptide as described herein.

Diagnosis

Immunodiagnostics are well suited for the detection of even the smallest of amounts of biochemical substances such as antibodies. Antibodies specific for a desired antigen can be conjugated with a radiolabel, fluorescent label, or color-forming enzyme and are used as a “probe” to detect it. Well known applications include pregnancy tests, immunoblotting, ELISA and immunohistochemical staining of microscope slides. The speed, accuracy and simplicity of such tests has led to the development of rapid techniques for the diagnosis of disease.

Therefore, an aspect of the present invention relates to a polypeptide, an immunogenic composition, a pharmaceutical composition, or a vaccine as described herein for use in the diagnosis of an infection caused by ETEC.

The polypeptide, immunogenic composition, or pharmaceutical composition as described herein may also be used to detect the presence of ETEC in a sample or used as an indication whether a sample or subject may contain ETEC.

It should be noted that embodiments and features described in the context of one of the aspects of the present invention also apply to the other aspects of the invention.

All patent and non-patent references cited in the present application, are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

The invention will now be described in further details in the following non-limiting examples.

EXAMPLES Example 1—BEMAP Method Results

BEMAP relies on β-elimination of O-linked carbohydrate modifications, Michael addition of 2-Aminoethyl phosphonic acid (AEP) and TiO₂ enrichment of phosphopeptides. Thus, BEMAP combines a firmly established in vitro chemical modification with a highly selective enrichment protocol (Thingholm et al., 2006) and the reactions take place in a single volume without the need for intermediate purification steps as described in the Experimental Procedures section.

The BEMAP method was first established using a synthetic mannosylated peptide as a model compound. As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, MALDI MS demonstrated that BEMAP efficiently replaces the carbohydrate moiety of the synthetic peptide (m/z=1181.59 Da) with the AEP group and thus produces a phosphopeptide (m/z=1126.64 Da).

The overall efficiency of substitution exceeds 95% (FIG. 1B) without the formation of degradation products. The AEP-modified peptide was then strongly enriched using affinity chromatography with TiO₂; both the intact glycopeptide and the β-eliminated peptide (1001.62 Da) were absent in the MALDI MS spectrum after enrichment (FIG. 1C).

The inventors found that BEMAP converts other glycopeptides into a phosphopeptide, independent of the identity of the linked monosaccharide (data not shown). It should be noted that the TiO₂ purification step of BEMAP also targets phosphopeptides. Therefore, as a precaution the inventors use the enzyme Alkaline phosphatase to dephosphorylate any native phosphopeptides which otherwise may result in false positive identifications.

The inventors analyzed the gas phase-induced fragmentation properties of the converted glycopeptide. As shown in FIG. 2 , the exchange of a carbohydrate moiety with AEP has several advantages. The AEP addition substitutes a labile glycoside bond with a stronger covalent C—N bond, which greatly improves mapping of glycosylated residues by higher-energy collisional dissociation (HCD) fragmentation. Moreover, the AEP group yielded two characteristic ions during HCD fragmentation (m/z=126.03 Da and m/z=138.03 Da), which are very useful for the identification of formerly glycosylated peptides in complex MS/MS spectra. It should be noted that the AEP molecule is constituted by a phosphonate functional group, which is stable under CID and HCD fragmentation conditions compared to the phosphate one, which is labile under these conditions. This allows unambiguous assignment of modified amino acid residues and avoids false positives in site localization assignment (data not shown).

Next, the inventors applied BEMAP to a purified heptosylated protein: Ag43 from E. coli (Knudsen et al., 2008). As may be seen in FIG. 1D, in-gel digestion of the glycosylated protein yielded heptosylated and unmodified peptides. Heptosylated peptides are marked by an asterisk. From the digested peptide mix, BEMAP enriched the three heptosylated peptides present in FIG. 1D as well as four additional glycopeptides initially undetectable by MALDI MS (FIGS. 1E and 1F). It is concluded that BEMAP is a specific and sensitive method for detecting protein glycosylation.

Results

The outer membrane protein fraction of H10407 was isolated and subjected to BEMAP analysis for identification of glycoproteins. This approach identified the protein YghJ, a putative lipoprotein AcfD homolog.

Discussion

BEMAP relies on nucleophile tagging using 2-Aminoethyl phosphonic acid (AEP) rather than e.g. DTT. BEMAP method selectivity is achieved with the glycan-for-phosphate molecule exchange combined with a highly specific enrichment protocol for downstream sample processing (Thingholm et al., 2006). Importantly, the BEMAP chemistry can be applied in principle to any organism on a large-scale proteomics level irrespective of the chemical properties of the O-linked monosaccharide. As demonstrated in FIGS. 1A-F, BEMAP replaces the carbohydrate moiety of a synthetic glycosylated peptide with a phosphotag in a chemical reaction exceeding 95% efficiency. Moreover, HCD MS/MS fragmentation of enriched BEMAP samples yields diagnostic ions instrumental for glycopeptide MS/MS spectrum identification as well as enabling unambiguous assignment of the modified amino acid residue, see FIGS. 2A-B.

To identify specific pathogenic E. coli associated glycoproteins of potential therapeutic value the inventors compared the outer membrane protein complement to non-pathogenic reference strain MG1655 sampled under identical conditions. By applying the BEMAP workflow, the inventors identified the ETEC vaccine candidate YghJ, a putative lipoprotein AcfD homolog. Based on analyses, the inventors propose that novel vaccines directed against ETEC should not only be selected amongst the glycoproteins expressed by the pathogen but can in principle also be targeting glycosylated domains of proteins which otherwise share 100% identity among E. coli strains.

Experimental Procedures:

Lyophilized peptide sample is resuspended in 100 μl BEMAP solution consisting of 0.4 M 2-AEP (Sigma; 268674), 0.75 M NaOH (Sigma; S8045), 20 mM Ba(OH)₂ (Sigma; 433373) and incubate at 37° C. in a heating block for 3.15 hours shaking at 1300 r.p.m. The reaction is stopped by acidification (1% TFA final concentration). Sample volume is increased to 1 ml and the peptides are purified on an Oasis HLB Plus short cartridge (Waters) as recommend by manufacturer and subsequently lyophilized. TiO₂ enrichment was performed as described by Tingholm et al., 2006.

ETEC H10407 lead molecule: Putative lipoprotein AcfD homolog YghJ, ETEC 3241, CBJ02741 Primary sequence of YghJ (SEQ ID NO: 1): MNKKFKYKKS LLAAILSATL LAGCDGGGSG SSSDTPPVDS GTGSLPEVKP DPTPNPEPTP EPTPDPEPTP EPIPDPEPTP EPEPEPVPTK TGYLTLGGSQ RVTGATCNGE SSDGFTFKPG EDVTCVAGNT TIATFNTQSE AARSLRAVEK VSFSLEDAQE LAGSDDKKSN VSLVTSSNS CPANTEQVCL TFSSVIESKR FDSLYKQIDL APEEFKKLVN EEVENNAATD KAPSTHTSPV VPVTTPGTKP DLNASFVSAN AEQFYQYQPT EIILSEGRLV DSQGYGVAGV YYTNSGRGV TGENGEFSFS WGEAISFGID TFELGSVRGN KSTIALTELG DEVRGANIDQ LIHRYSTTGQ NNTRVVPDDV RKVFAEYPNV INEIINLSLS NGATLGEGEQ VVNLPNEFIE QFNTGQAKEI DTAICAKTDG CNEARWFSLT TRNVNDGQIQ GVINKLWGVD TNYKSVSKFH VFHDSTNFYG STGNARGQAV VNISNAAFPI LMARNDKNYW LAFGEKRAWD KNELAYITEA PSIVRPENVT RETASFNLPF ISLGQVGDGK LMVIGNPHYN SILRCPNGYS WNGGVNKDGQ CTLNSDPDDM KNFMENVLRY LSNDRWLPDA KSSMTVGTNL ETVYFKKHGQ VLGNSAPFAF HKDFTGITVK PMTSYGNLNP DEVPLLILNG FEYVTQWGSD PYSIPLRADT SKPKLTQQDV TDLIAYMNKG GSVLIMENVM SNLKEESASG FVRLLDAAGL SMALNKSVVN NDPQGYPDRV RQRRSTPIWV YERYPAVDGK PPYTIDDTTK EVIWKYQQEN KPDDKPKLEV ASWQEEVEGK QVTQFAFIDE ADHKTPESLA AAKQRILDAF PGLEVCKDSD YHYEVNCLEY RPGTDVPVTG GMYVPQYTQL DLSADTAKAM LQAADLGTNI QRLYQHELYF RTNGRQGERL NSVDLERLYQ NMSVWLWNET KYRYEEGKED ELGFKTFTEF LNCYTNNAYV GTQCSAELKK SLIDNKMIYG EESSKAGMMN PSYPLNYMEK PLTRLMLGRS WWDLNIKVDV EKYPGVVNTN GETVTQNINL YSAPTKWFAG NMQSTGLWAP AQQEVSIESK STVPVTVTVA LADDLTGREK HEVSLNRPPR VTKTYDLKAN DKVTFKVPYG GLIYIKGDSK EVQSADFTFT GVVKAPFYKD GKWQHDLNSP APLGELESAS FVYTTPKKNL NASNYTGGLE QFANDLDTFA SSMNDFYGRD SEDGKHRMFT YKNLPGHKHR FANDVQISIG DAHSGYPVMN SSFSPNSTTL PTTPLNDWLI WHEVGHNAAE TPLTVPGATE VANNVLALYM QDRYLGKMNR VADDITVAPE YLEESNGQAW ARGGAGDRLL MYAQLKEWAE KNFDIKKWYP DGTPLPEFYS EREGMKGWNL FQLMHRKARG DEVSNDKFGG KNYCAESNGN AADTLMLCAS WVAQTDLSEF FKKWNPGANA YQLPGASEMS FEGGVSQSAY NTLASLDLPK PEQGPETINQ VTEHKMSAE

Unique to H10407 Compared to Other E. coli

TABLE 1 Identified Tryptic glycopeptides using BEMAP combined with ESI-MS/MS (SEQ ID NOs: 2-7 and SEQ ID NO: 24-50; glycosylations in bold): Mod Mod Mod Mod Mod Mod Mod Start End Seq AA #1 AA #2 AA #3 AA #4 AA #5 AA #6 AA #7 355 364 YSTTGQNN S356 1357 1358 1363 TR (SEQ ID NO: 2) 609 615 YLSNDR S612 (SEQ ID NO: 3) 588 609 DGQCTLNS S595 DPDDMKNF MENVLR (SEQ ID NO: 4) 1341 1362 VADDITVAP S1355 EYLEESNGQ AWAR (SEQ ID NO: 5) 1048 1076 VDVEKYPGV T1059 T1063 T1065 VNTNGETVT QNINLYSAP TK (SEQ ID NO: 6) 102 143 VTGATCNG T103 T106 S111 S112 T116 T124 T130 ESSDGFTFK PGEDVTCVA GNTTIATFN TQSEAAR (SEQ ID NO: 7) 91 101 TGYLTLGGS S99 QR (SEQ ID NO: 24) 144 167 SLRAVEKVS S144 FSLEDAQEL AGSDDK (SEQ ID NO: 25) 169 199 SNAVSLVTS S177 S180 T185 T191 SNSCPANTE QVCLTFSSV IESK (SEQ ID NO: 26) 218 231 LVNEEVENN T229 AATDK(SEQ ID NO: 27) 419 435 EIDTAICAKT T422 DGCNEAR (SEQ ID NO: 28) 428 442 TDGCNEAR T428 S438 T440 T441 WFSLTTR (SEQ ID NO: 29) 456 468 LWGVDTNY S467 KSVSK (SEQ ID NO: 30) 469 486 FHVFHDSTN S476 FYGSTGNAR (SEQ ID NO: 31) 487 504 GQAVVNISN S494 AAFPILMAR (SEQ ID NO: 32) 622 636 SSMTVGTN S622 S623 T625 T632 LETVYFK (SEQ ID NO: 33) 705 719 LTQQDVTDL T711 IAYMNK (SEQ ID NO: 34) 720 734 GGSVLIMEN S722 VMSNLK (SEQ ID NO: 35) 735 743 EESASGFVR S739 (SEQ ID NO: 36) 757 769 SVVNNDPQ S757 GYPDR (SEQ ID NO: 37) 818 830 LEVASWQEE S822 VEGK (SEQ ID NO: 38) 845 853 TPESLAAAK S848 (SEQ ID NO: 39) 909 922 AMLQAADL T918 GTNIQR (SEQ ID NO: 40) 923 935 LYQHELYFR T932 TNGR (SEQ ID NO: 41) 936 947 QGERLNSV S942 DLER (SEQ ID NO: 42) 948 963 LYQNMSVW T960 LWNETKYR (SEQ ID NO: 43) 1000 1015 KSLIDNKMI S1001 S1013 S1014 YGEESSK (SEQ ID NO: 44) 1016 1034 AGMMNPSY S1022 PLNYMEKPL TR (SEQ ID NO: 45) 1101 1120 STVPVTVTV T1102 T1106 T1116 ALADDLTGR EK (SEQ ID NO: 46) 1134 1142 TYDLKANDK T1134 (SEQ ID NO: 47) 1134 1146 TYDLKANDK T1144 VTFK (SEQ ID NO: 48) 1143 1160 VTFKVPYGG S1159 LIYIKGDSK (SEQ ID NO: 49) 1418 1431 ARGDEVSN S1424 DKFGGK (SEQ ID NO: 50)

Identified YghJ glycopeptides listed as probable epitopes presented by Antigen Presenting Cells (SEQ ID NOs: 8-23, glycosylations in bold): QLIHRYSTTGQNN IHRYSTTGQNNTR TTGQNNTRVVPDD NVLRYLSNDRWLP GQCTLNSDPDDMK PEYLEESNGQAWA YPGVVNTNGETVT VNTNGETVTQNIN TNGETVTQNINLY GGSQRVTGATCNG QRVTGATCNGESS ATCNGESSDGFTF TCNGESSDGFTFK ESSDGFTFKPGED KPGEDVTCVAGNT TCVAGNTTIATFN

Example 2—Immunogenicity of ETEC Glycosylated Proteins

An immunogenic polypeptide is defined as a polypeptide that induces an immune response.

The immune response may be monitored by one of the following methods:

An in vitro cellular response is determined by release of a relevant cytokine such as IFN-γ, from lymphocytes withdrawn from an animal or human currently or previously infected with ETEC, or by detection of proliferation of these T cells. The induction is performed by addition of the polypeptide or the immunogenic part to a suspension comprising from 1×10⁵ cells to 3×10⁵ cells per well. The cells are isolated from either blood, the spleen, the liver or the lung and the addition of the polypeptide or the immunogenic part of the polypeptide result in a concentration of not more than 20 μg per ml suspension and the stimulation is performed from two to five days. For monitoring cell proliferation, the cells are pulsed with radioactive labeled Thymidine and after 16-22 hours of incubation, the proliferation is detected by liquid scintillation counting. A positive response is a response more than background plus two standard deviations. The release of IFN-γ can be determined by the ELISA method, which is well known to a person skilled in the art. A positive response is a response more than background plus two standard deviations. Other cytokines than IFN-γ could be relevant when monitoring an immunological response to the polypeptide, such as IL-12, TNF-α, IL-4, IL-5, IL-10, IL-6, TGF-β.

Another and more sensitive method for determining the presence of a cytokine (e.g. IFN-γ) is the ELISPOT method where the cells isolated from either the blood, the spleen, the liver or the lung are diluted to a concentration of preferable of 1 to 4×10⁶ cells/ml and incubated for 18-22 hrs in the presence of the polypeptide or the immunogenic part of the polypeptide resulting in a concentration of not more than 20 μg per ml.

The cell suspensions are hereafter diluted to 1 to 2×10⁶/ml and transferred to MaxiSorp™ plates coated with anti-IFN-γ and incubated for preferably 4 to 16 hours. The IFN-γ producing cells are determined by the use of labelled secondary anti-IFN-antibody and a relevant substrate giving rise to spots, which can be enumerated using a dissection microscope. It is also a possibility to determine the presence of mRNA coding for the relevant cytokine by the use of the PCR technique. Usually one or more cytokines will be measured utilizing for example the PCR, ELISPOT or ELISA. It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that a significant increase or decrease in the amount of any of these cytokines induced by a specific polypeptide can be used in evaluation of the immunological activity of the polypeptide.

An in vitro cellular response may also be determined by the use of T cell lines derived from an immune individual or an ETEC infected person where the T cell lines have been driven with either live ETEC, extracts from the bacterial cell or culture filtrate for 10 to 20 days with the addition of IL-2. The induction is performed by addition of not more than 20 μg polypeptide per ml suspension to the T cell lines containing from 1×10⁵ cells to 3×10⁵ cells per well and incubation is performed from two to six days. The induction of IFN-γ or release of another relevant cytokine is detected by ELISA. The stimulation of T cells can also be monitored by detecting cell proliferation using radioactively labeled Thymidine as described above. For both assays, a positive response is a response more than background plus two standard deviations.

An in vivo cellular response may be determined as a positive DTH response after intradermal injection or local application patch of at most 100 μg of the polypeptide or the immunogenic part to an individual who is clinically or subclinically infected with ETEC, a positive response having a diameter of at least 5 mm 72-96 hours after the injection or application.

An in vitro humoral response is determined by a specific antibody response in an immune or infected individual. The presence of antibodies may be determined by an ELISA technique or a Western blot where the polypeptide or the immunogenic part is absorbed to either a nitrocellulose membrane or a polystyrene surface. The serum is preferably diluted in PBS from 1:10 to 1:100 and added to the absorbed polypeptide and the incubation being performed from 1 to 12 hours. By the use of labeled secondary antibodies the presence of specific antibodies can be determined by measuring the presence or absence of a specific label e.g. by ELISA where a positive response is a response of more than background plus two standard deviations or alternatively a visual response in a Western blot.

Another relevant parameter is measurement of the protection in animal models induced after vaccination with the polypeptide in an adjuvant or after DNA vaccination. Suitable animal models include primates, guinea pigs or mice, which are challenged with an infection of an ETEC. Readout for induced protection could be decrease of the bacterial load in target organs compared to non-vaccinated animals, prolonged survival times compared to non-vaccinated animals and diminished weight loss or pathology compared to non-vaccinated animals.

The glycosylated polypeptides described herein are immunogenic when one of the above-described tests is positive.

Example 3—Schematic Overview of Assays and Experiments Used to Characterize Glycosylated as Well as Non-Glycosylated YghJ Protein Properties

TABLE 2 Type of experiment Mouse challenge Serum and mucosal antibody responses Antibody mediated inhibition of ETEC binding to Caco-2 Antibody mediated inhibition of ETEC binding to Caco-2; cAMP release measurement Degradation of intestinal mucin MUC3 Quantitative YghJ − MUC3 interaction assessment Degradation of intestinal mucin MUC2

An overview of the assays used for testing a wide variety of YghJ features is given in Table 2.

Example 4—Vaccination with Glycosylated YghJ Affords Better Protection Against Intestinal Colonization of ETEC in Mice Compared to the Non-Glycosylated Protein Versions

Assay Type: Mouse Challenge Studies

Materials and Methods:

Seven groups of CD-1 mice were immunized with either adjuvant only (control), or appropriate amount of adjuvant+25 μg of glycosylated YghJ or adjuvant+e.g. 25 μg of non-glycosylated YghJ on days 0, 14, 28. On day 40, mice were treated with streptomycin [e.g. 5 g per liter] in drinking water for 24 hours, followed by drinking water alone for 18 hours. After administration of famotidine to reduce gastric acidity, mice were challenged with 10⁶ cfu of a chloramphenicol-resistant ETEC strain by oral gavage. Fecal samples (6 pellets/mouse) were collected on day 42 before oral gavage, re-suspended in buffer (10 mM Tris, 100 mM NaCl, 0.05% ethoxylated (20) sorbitan ester £TWEEN®20), 5 mM Sodium Azide, pH 7.4) overnight at 4° C., centrifuged to pellet insoluble material, and recover supernatant for fecal antibody testing (below). Twenty-four hours after infection, mice were sacrificed, sera were collected, and dilutions of saponin small-intestinal lysates were plated onto Luria agar plates containing chloramphenicol (40 μg/ml).

Experimental outcome: As determined by CFU counting, fecal samples from mice immunized with glycosylated antigen YghJ contained fewer ETEC compared to fecal samples from mice immunized with non-glycosylated antigen versions.

Example 5—Immunization with Glycosylated Antigen YghJ Generates Robust Serum and Mucosal Antibody Responses

Assay Type: ELISA Assay Probing Relative Levels of IgA, IgM and IgG

Materials and Methods:

Murine immune responses to adjuvant, glycosylated and non-glycosylated versions of YghJ were determined using ELISA. Briefly, ELISA wells were incubated at 4° C. overnight with proteins at a final concentration of 4 μg/ml in 0.1 M NaHCO3 buffer (pH 8.6), washed the following day with Tris-buffered saline containing 0.005% ethoxylated (20) sorbitan ester (TWEEN® 20) (TBS-T), and blocked with 1% bovine serum albumin (BSA) in TBS-T for 1 h at 37° C. prior to the addition of the samples. Sera was serial diluted in TBS-T with 1% BSA, and 100 μl was added to each ELISA well, followed by incubation at 37° C. for 1 h. After three washes with TBS-T, horseradish peroxidase-conjugated secondary antibody (either goat anti-mouse IgA, IgM, or IgG) was added at a final dilution of 1:5,000, followed by incubation for an additional hour before washing and development with TMB (3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine)-peroxidase substrate (KPL). Kinetic ELISA data are expressed as Vmax in milliunits/min.

Experimental outcome: Immunization with glycosylated antigen YghJ generates robust IgA, IgG and IgM antibody responses as compared to non-glycosylated versions

Example 6—Monoclonal Antibodies Raised Against Glycosylated YghJ Inhibits ETEC Binding to Intestinal Epithelial Cells to a Higher Extent Compared Monoclonal Antibodies Raised Against Non-Glycosylated YghJ Protein Version

Assay Type: Adhesion Assay

Materials and Methods:

In vitro, Caco-2 epithelial cell monolayers were infected with ETEC H10407 at multiplicities of infection of approximately 100 (bacteria/cell). Cultures of bacteria were grown overnight in Luria broth from frozen glycerol stocks, diluted 1:100, and grown for 1 h. One microliter of bacterial culture is added to confluent Caco-2 monolayers seeded into 96-well plates preincubated with or without antibodies. Two hours after inoculation, the monolayers were washed 3 times with tissue culture medium after which bacteria were isolated, serial diluted and plated to count CFU the following day.

Experimental outcome: Monoclonal antibodies raised against glycosylated YghJ inhibits ETEC binding to intestinal epithelial cells to a higher extent compared monoclonal antibodies raised against non-glycosylated YghJ protein version.

Example 7—Monoclonal Antibodies Raised Against Glycosylated YghJ Inhibits ETEC Binding to Intestinal Epithelial Cells to a Higher Extent Compared to Monoclonal Antibodies Raised Against Non-Glycosylated YghJ Protein Version

Assay Type: Adhesion Assay Coupled to cAMP Enzyme Immunoassay

Materials and Methods:

In vitro, Caco-2 epithelial cell monolayers were infected with ETEC H10407 at multiplicities of infection of approximately 100 (bacteria/cell). Cultures of bacteria were grown overnight in Luria broth from frozen glycerol stocks, diluted 1:100, and grown for 1 h. One microliter of bacterial culture is added to confluent Caco-2 monolayers seeded into 96-well plates preincubated with or without antibodies. Two hours after inoculation, the monolayers were washed 3 times with tissue culture medium, and the medium was replaced with 100 μl of fresh medium/well and returned to the incubator (37° C., 5% CO₂) for 2.5 h. Subsequently, cyclic AMP (cAMP) enzyme immunoassay (EIA) (Arbor Assays, Ann Arbor, Mich.) was used to examine the efficiency of toxin delivery.

Experimental outcome: Addition of antibodies raised against glycosylated YghJ results in lower levels of released cAMP into the growth medium compared to monoclonal antibodies raised against non-glycosylated YghJ protein version.

Example 8—Glycosylated YghJ Degrade Intestinal Mucin MUC3 in a Dose-Dependent Fashion to a Higher Extent Compared to the Non-Glycosylated YghJ Protein Version and Mucin Degrading Activity can be Blocked with Monoclonal Antibodies Targeting Glycosylated Epitopes

Assay Type: Western Blot

Materials and Methods:

To examine the activity of glycosylated and non-glycosylated YghJ against the cell-associated mucin MUC3, Caco-2 epithelial cells were grown in monolayers in 96-well tissue culture plates for 48 to 72 h postconfluence to optimize MUC3 expression on the epithelial surface. Supernatant was removed and replaced with 100 μl of minimum essential medium (MEM) containing YghJ (+/− glycosylation; final concentration of 1-500 μg/ml) either with or without aliquots of antibody. Following overnight treatment of the cell monolayers at 37° C. and 5% CO₂, the medium was removed, and the monolayers were lysed in 20 μl of lysis buffer (e.g. 50 mM sodium phosphate, 250 mM NaCl, 0.1% 2-[4-(2,4,4-trimethylpentan-2-yl)phenoxy]ethanol (TRITON X-100®), 0.1 mM phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride [PMSF], and complete EDTA-free protease inhibitor cocktail [Roche]). Following incubation on ice for 30 min and repeated freeze (dry ice)-thaw (37° C.) cycles, the lysates were centrifuged at 10,000×g (4° C.) to pellet debris. Clarified lysates were then separated on gradient (3 to 8% Tris-acetate; Invitrogen) PAGE. Following transfer to nitrocellulose membranes, Caco-2 lysates were immunoblotted with anti-MUC3A/B goat polyclonal IgG antibodies (F-19 [catalog no. sc-13314; Santa Cruz]) that recognize an internal region of mucin 3A of human origin (gene identification [ID] 4584).

Experimental outcome: As determined by Western blotting, Caco-2 cells exposed to glycosylated YghJ displays higher extent of MUC3 degradation compared to cells incubated with the non-glycosylated protein variant. Moreover, the proteolytic activity of YghJ can be blocked by adding monoclonal antibodies targeting the glycosylated amino acids.

Example 9—Glycosylated YghJ Interacts Stronger with the Human Intestinal Mucin, MUC3, Compared to the Non-Glycosylated YghJ Protein Version

Assay Type: Far Western Blot

Materials and Methods

To examine interaction of YghJ with the human intestinal mucin MUC3, lysate from Caco-2 cells containing MUC3 was separated by SDS-PAGE as described above and transferred to nitrocellulose membranes. To examine interaction with MUC3, purified protein was spotted on nitrocellulose membranes. Far Western analysis was then performed with purified YghJ 3×FLAG. Briefly, nitrocellulose membranes with immobilized mucins were blocked for 1 h with 1% bovine serum albumin (BSA) in PBS before incubating with 50 μg/ml of purified YghJ (+/− glycosylations) overnight at 4° C. Proteins were detected by immunoblotting using antimucin antibodies or anti-YghJ monoclonal antibody obtained from mice.

Expected outcome: When exposing immobilized MUC3 to either glycosylated YghJ or the non-glycosylated protein variant, Far Western blotting shows that the modified YghJ exhibits stronger binding towards the mucin.

Example 10—Glycosylated YghJ Degrade Purified Intestinal Mucin MUC2 in a Dose-Dependent Fashion to a Higher Extent Compared to the Non-Glycosylated YghJ Protein Version and Mucin Degrading Activity can be Blocked with Affinity Purified Antibodies

Assay Type: Western Blot

Materials and Methods

MUC2 was purified from supernatants of tissue culture medium from LS174T cells (ATCC CL-188), a goblet cell-like adenocarcinoma line that makes abundant MUC2. Briefly, LS174T cells were grown as described above; conditioned medium was recovered, concentrated by ultrafiltration using a 100-kDa-molecular-weight-cutoff filter (MWCO), and then buffer exchanged with 10 mM Tris-HCl and 250 mM NaCl (pH 7.4) prior to size exclusion chromatography using Sepharose CL-2B resin. Fractions were checked for MUC2 by anti-MUC2 dot immunoblotting. MUC2-positive fractions, corresponding to a protein peak in the column void volume, were separated on 3 to 8% Tris-acetate gradient gels, stained with SYPRO® Ruby to check purity, and immunoblotted using anti-MUC2 to verify the identity of the protein. Fractions containing intact, full-length MUC2 were then pooled and saved at −80° C. for subsequent assays.

To examine degradation of purified MUC2, 0.1 μg of protein was treated for at least 30 min with 5 μg of either glycosylated or non-glycosylated YghJ at 37° C. Affinity purified antibodies, isolated from rat exposed to either the glycosylated or non-glycosylated antigen, was added to reaction mixture in order to inhibit MUC2 degradation. Reaction products were resolved by SDS-PAGE or agarose gels optimized for protein separation, and MUC2 digests were examined with anti-MUC2 rabbit polyclonal (IgG) (H-300 [catalog no. sc-15334; Santa Cruz]) that recognizes an epitope corresponding to amino acids 4880 to 5179 at the C terminus of human mucin 2 (gene ID 4583).

Expected outcome: The degradation rate of purified intestinal mucin MUC2 is higher when exposed to glycosylated YghJ as compared to non-glycosylated YghJ. Furthermore, mucin degradation can be blocked with affinity-purified YghJ antibodies.

REFERENCES

-   Thingholm et al. (2006), Nat. Protoc. 1, 1929-1935 -   Knudsen et al. (2008), Biochem. J. 412, 563-577 -   Chou and Schwartz (2011), Curr. Protoc. Bioinformatics, chapter 13,     15-24 -   Pearson and Lipman (1988), Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 85, 2444-2448. -   Thompson et al. (1994), Nucleic Acids Res. 11, 4673-4680. 

The invention claimed is:
 1. A pharmaceutical composition comprising: an O-linked glycosylated polypeptide fragment that is 13 to 42 amino acid-residues long, wherein the O-linked glycosylated polypeptide fragment comprises at least 90% sequence identity to a sequence selected form the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 7, SEQ ID NO: 4, SEQ ID NO: 5, SEQ ID NO: 25, SEQ ID NO: 26, SEQ ID NO: 15, SEQ ID NO: 28, SEQ ID NO: 32, SEQ ID NO: 44 and SEQ ID NO:
 46. 2. The pharmaceutical composition according to claim 1, wherein the O-linked glycosylated polypeptide fragment comprises a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 7, SEQ ID NO: 4, SEQ ID NO: 5, SEQ ID NO: 25, SEQ ID NO: 26, SEQ ID NO: 15, SEQ ID NO: 28, SEQ ID NO: 32, SEQ ID NO: 44 and SEQ ID NO:
 46. 3. The pharmaceutical composition according to claim 1, wherein the O-linked glycosylated polypeptide fragment comprises SEQ ID NO:
 7. 4. The pharmaceutical composition according to claim 1, wherein the O-linked glycosylated polypeptide fragment is incorporated into a fusion polypeptide.
 5. The pharmaceutical composition according to claim 1, wherein said pharmaceutical composition further comprises an adjuvant.
 6. The pharmaceutical composition according to claim 5, wherein the adjuvant is selected from the group consisting of dimethyloctadecylammonium bromide (DDA), dimethyloctadecenylammonium bromide (DODAC), Quil A, poly I:C, aluminium hydroxide, Freund's incomplete adjuvant, IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-12, monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL), Treholose Dimycolate (TDM), Trehalose Dibehenate and muramyl dipeptide (MDP).
 7. The pharmaceutical composition according to claim 1, wherein said pharmaceutical composition is formulated for intradermal, transdermal, subcutaneous, intramuscular or mucosal application.
 8. The pharmaceutical composition according to claim 1, wherein said pharmaceutical composition is formulated in a vaccine.
 9. An immunogenic composition comprising: an O-linked glycosylated polypeptide fragment that is 13 to 42 amino acid-residues long, wherein the O-linked glycosylated polypeptide fragment comprises at least 90% sequence identity to a sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 7, SEQ ID NO: 4, SEQ ID NO: 5, SEQ ID NO: 25, SEQ ID NO: 26, SEQ ID NO: 15, SEQ ID NO: 28, SEQ ID NO: 32, SEQ ID NO: 44 and SEQ ID NO:
 46. 10. The immunogenic composition according to claim 9, wherein the O-linked glycosylated polypeptide fragment comprises a sequence selected form the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 7, SEQ ID NO: 4, SEQ ID NO: 5, SEQ ID NO: 25, SEQ ID NO: 26, SEQ ID NO: 15, SEQ ID NO: 28, SEQ ID NO: 32, SEQ ID NO: 44 and SEQ ID NO:
 46. 11. The immunogenic composition according to claim 9, wherein the O-linked glycosylated polypeptide fragment comprises SEQ ID NO:
 7. 12. The immunogenic composition according to claim 9, wherein the O-linked glycosylated polypeptide fragment is incorporated into a fusion polypeptide.
 13. The immunogenic composition according to claim 9, wherein the immunogenic composition further comprises an adjuvant.
 14. The immunogenic composition according to claim 13, wherein the adjuvant is selected from the group consisting of dimethyloctadecylammonium bromide (DDA), dimethyloctadecenylammonium bromide (DODAC), Quil A, poly I:C, aluminium hydroxide, Freund's incomplete adjuvant, IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-12, monophosphoryl lipid A (MPL), Treholose Dimycolate (TDM), Trehalose Dibehenate and muramyl dipeptide (MDP).
 15. The immunogenic composition according to claim 9, wherein said immunogenic composition is formulated for intradermal, transdermal, subcutaneous, intramuscular or mucosal application.
 16. The immunogenic composition according to claim 9, formulated in a vaccine. 